The Aftermath

Posted on Sat Jun 11th, 2011 @ 3:50pm by Lieutenant Cedric Shepherd & Lieutenant JG Lucy Carter & Captain Elsie Halliwell & Commander Cailean Fox, M.D.

1,565 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Shoreleave
Location: USS Ranger, Sickbay

ON:

Shepherd stood quietly a moment, digesting what he'd just been told.

"So," he pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled, "just so I understand, Nurse Traho sold her foetus to the adoptive Browns, and ran this interuterine transporter shot to make the transfer. For 1500 bars of GPL."

Carter exhaled and leant forward in her chair, elbows on her knees and head in her hands. She ran her fingers through her blonde hair and, gripping it slightly, looked up. "Yes. That's about the size of it." She laughed a short sharp noise and breathed out again. "I don't know what was going through her mind."

She winced as she twisted her back to one side, feeling the sharp stab of a possible cracked rib she had not told the doctor about. She took her hand away from her head and examined her fingers, which revealed the dark stain of congealed blood.

"And the foetus, so far as we can tell from the transporter logs, arrived intact in Mrs. Brown's uterus, while the latinum was lost in the pattern buffer," Shepherd reviewed.

Carter laughed. "Well at least that's one thing I managed to do properly." She rotated one shoulder and her ribs stabbed at her again. "Computer, activate the EMH."

"Unable to comply," responded the computer in the usual terse manner. Carter shook her head. "Maria has even managed to put him out of action. What a mess."

“Computer,†Halliwell cut in, the hand resting on her hip as she stood before them all - intently listening and bewildered - now raised up to her forehead in an exasperated motion that betrayed her annoyance and disbelief, “Over-ride the EMH activation security protocols. Authorisation, Halliwell-Omega-6-5-9.â€

The computer responded and the familiar buzzing hum that revealed the holographic doctor’s presence could be heard behind them all. Turning to Doctor Fox, Halliwell shook her head and said, “It isn’t usually like this around here. Sometimes the medical staff actually get on with things and heal people.â€

Fox's mustache twitched, but he just nodded. He knew better than to think that the Federation was all sunshine and lollipops. He'd been in the game far too long.

“Firstly,†Halliwell barked, now turning to Shepherd, “those ‘funds’ are going nowhere. Make sure that that the transport specialist retains them and brings them to me when – or if - they are recovered. And secondly, Nurse Traho has a lot of explaining to do. You’ll need to restrict her communication privileges until we can interview her. I know all about her affiliation with a certain admiral at top level. At the moment, this is an internal investigation and we are not to report any findings until we agree on what course of action to take afterwards.â€

"Right away, Captain," Shepherd nodded, tapping his combadge and taking a step away from the group to relay information and orders to his department.

Now turning to Lucy, Halliwell inhaled decidedly before tackling another issue. "How long have you known about this situation with Nurse Traho, Lieutenant? Could you have prevented this?" She shook her head disappointingly at the chain of events as a whole.

Carter was not one for showing her emotions but on this occasion, the blunt reality of what had happened was finally catching up with her. She got to her feet, shaking at the pain in her ribs. The EMH stepped towards he but she held up her hand to brush him away. "Captain," she said at last, "I have known Nurse Traho for a long time - since Academy days. In the past she has been capable of being rash, impetuous and rather selfish but I never thought she would actually go through with something of this nature..."

"How long have you known, Lieutenant?" Lucy seemed to have one of those faces and demeanor that somehow managed to soften the hardest of characters. Even Elsie was affected somewhat by her charm and quiet ways.

Carter's face reddened and she said quietly, "I have known for a couple of weeks that she was pregnant. I didn't do anything before as I didn't actually think Maria would sell her own baby. It was only when I followed her here I realised she had set up the whole thing - the transfer, the payment, the recipient. The lot."

The EMH had been standing patiently to one side but now spoke. "Might I add, Captain, that I, too, knew of Nurse Traho's intention to, shall we say, promote her DNA? Both Lieutenant Carter and I tried to change her mind but she was unresponsive to persuasion. Further more, she tampered with my programming to the extent that she finally locked me out of all sickbay proceedings. The woman is a menace."

"I'm inclined to agree," Shepherd added, stepping back into the circle. "Unfortunately, I'm not sure anything seriously illegal has happened here."

"I can't accept that," Halliwell burst. "This time the woman has crossed the line. There's no doubt about that."

"Well," Shepherd was calm, especially in the face of the building Hurricane Halliwell, "I'm not going to defend this. It's a despicable thing to do. But no money changed hands. It was lost in the pattern buffer--the transporter room confirms it. In the absence of a value exchange, there's no real charge that can be applied. If the buffer loss had gone the other way, and I'm sure we're all glad it didn't," he paused while the group collectively nodded, "then there'd be a fraud case to be made, but even that would be tenuous, since transporter pattern loss is a force majeure if ever there was one."

"She is NOT getting away with this!" Halliwell now barked, shaking with rage. Elsie clenched her teeth and with a low, spitting venom leant in and said to Cedric: "I don't give a damn if we have to trawl through every regulation passed since the beginning of the human race itself. There has to be something; a regulation for intent of criminal behaviour... anything! This will not lie at my feet."

Shepherd met Halliwell's look evenly and nodded, thinking a moment. "If nothing else, we've got failure to obey a direct order from a superior officer. Traho failed to bring the shield down when Carter screamed at her to do so, choosing instead to try and extract deals from me regarding her treatment. So that's clear-cut. There might also be a case for misuse of Federation resources here in sickbay, perhaps including the EMH program, which has an 'E' in its name for a reason. There may even be something involving Medical's code of ethics?" He looked to Fox for confirmation.

"If you ask me, shutting down that damned EMH is a point in their favor." Fox grumbled.

There was a silence whilst each person considered the sitution. The EMH scanned Carter with a medical tricorder, looking down his nose at the display and raising his eyebrows. "Unfortunately Nurse Traho does not put ethics at the top of her agenda. I am a doctor, not a philosopher but even my programming can differentiate between right and wrong. Was it not Plato himself who said--"

"Wise men talk because they have something to say," Shepherd interrupted flatly. "Fools, because they have to say something. That's what Plato said."

The EMH snapped shut his mouth and replaced the hand held scanner into the tricorder. "Lieutenant Carter you have two cracked ribs, a slight concussion and two burns on your torso. I have no doubt thse injuries were caused by a discharge of energy into your body that threw you against a wall." He looked up for a second while he paused for holgraphic breath and said, "I suggest you stay here in sickby for the time being. I don't think you had better return to our quarters with Nurse Traho there."

"That won't be an issue," the captain interrupted, nodding to Shepherd with a loaded raised eyebrow. "Nurse Traho will not be residing in her quarters for much longer." She now turned to the security chief squarely and seemed to lower her voice to give precise and uncompromising instructions. "Withhold her for unauthorised communication using Ranger's systems, suspected assault on a fellow officer," without looking, Elsie held up a hand to Lucy to silence any protest she might offer, "or good old fashioned plain insubordination. If you think she'll be more comfortable in the brig, then by all means. Otherwise lock her down in the smallest, spartan accommodation you can find."

"She'll be in the brig in ten minutes," said Shepherd, hitting his combadge again to forward the Captain's orders.

OFF:


Captain Elsie Halliwell
Commanding Officer
USS Ranger


Commander Cailean Fox, M.D.
Chief Medical Officer
USS Ranger


Lieutenant Cedric Shepherd
Chief Security Officer
USS Ranger


Junior Grade Lieutenant Lucy Carter
Ship's Counsellor
USS Ranger


Emergency Medical Hologram
Played by Emma

 

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